Gone in 180 Seconds

The main challenge of this project for me is to produce a valid orchestral work of such short duration (~3 minutes), as my music often has an unhurried nature. In the case of my last major orchestral work, it doesn’t “get going” until the eighth minute into the 23-minutes piece. In fact, there are very few larger ensemble works of <4 minutes duration by other composers that I feel are musically satisfying on their own. Off the top of my head, I can think of John Adams’ Short Ride in a Fast Machine and either of Oliver Knussen’s Two Organa.

I like to construct my music using limited amount of raw materials. For this short piece I am concentrating on two simple ideas, a zigzag melodic shape and an accelerating rhythmic motif. The overall structure is straight forward: one main build-up with a short coda.